Equation of state in a small system: Violation of an assumption of Maxwell's demon

Abstract

An equation of state for an ideal gas with a small number of particles is studied. The resulting equation is found to differ from that expected in conventional thermodynamics, which is strikingly illustrated when considering the traditional thermodynamic problem of Maxwell's demon. We clarify the mechanism of this different feature of thermodynamics arising in small systems.

5 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (1)

• Dissipation: The phase-space perspective

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